(Credit: Robert Workman)

In 2016 a young dramatic soprano won the Zarzuela Division and Second Prize at the Operalia Competition launching her international career and making her one of the most promising dramatic sopranos of her generations. A year before that the soprano had won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition.

The soprano was Marina Costa-Jackson and the aria that launched her career was Lisa’s from “The Queen of Spades.” Four years later Costa-Jackson will finally return to the Russian repertoire for her role debut as Tatiana in “Eugene Onegin.”

Costa-Jackson will sing her first Tatiana at the Seattle Opera where she was first seen in 2018 in Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte. ” The production will also mark her first Russian role in a professional house and her third Tchaikovsky role. While at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Costa-Jackson performed the roles of Lisa in “The Queen of Spades” and the title role of “Iolanta” but never returned to them. With Tatiana, Costa-Jackson will finally get to explore that part of her repertoire.

For audiences who are unable to attend the soprano’s debut, Costa-Jackson is scheduled to perform “Simon Boccanegra” with Washington Concert Opera and “La Bohème” with L’Opera de Paris. She also sings “Pagliacci” at the Michigan Lyric Opera.

Recordings

Up to this point Costa-Jackson does not have any commercial releases but there are a number of videos of the soprano from various different performances.

Here she is in her Operalia winning performances:

Here she is alongside legendary baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky: